Electromagnetically-controlled shock-absorbing mechanism.



I. F. OCONNOII ELECTROMAGNETI'CALLY CONTROLLED SHOCK ABSORBINGNIECHANISNI.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 9| I9I7.

Feb. 11, 1919.

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ELETEOMGNETICAEY-CONTROLLED SHOCK-ABSOBBING Specicaticn of LettersPatent.

Patented Feb. 11, 1919.

Application led June 9, 1917. Serial No. 173,855.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN F. CONNOR, a

'citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county `ofCook and State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and usefulImprovement in Electromagnetically-Controlled Shock-Absorbing Mechanism,of which the following is a full, clear, concise, and exact description,reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of thisspecification.

This invention relates to improvements in velcetro-magneticallycontrolled shock absorbing mechanism. v

One object of the invention is to provide a shock absorbing mechanism of'the friction type and more particularly adapted for use on railway carsand wherein electro-magnetically controlled means are provided forgoverning the amount of friction.

In the drawing forming a part of this specification, Figure l is alongitudinal vertical sectional view of the end of a passenger carshowing my improvements as applied to the buffer mechanism thereof. Fig.2 is a structure illustrated in Fig. 1, and taken on the line 2-2thereof. Fig. 3-is a view similar to Fig. 2 and taken' on the line 3-3of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a detail sectional view, taken substantially on theline 4 4 of Fig. 1. And Fig. 5 is a view simil-ar to Fig. 4,

4 taken on the line 5-5 of- Fig. 1.

In said drawing, 10 denotes the end of the platform casting of apassenger car, 11 the `buffer plate', 12 the central buffer stem, `and13 the rear wall against which the buffer mechanism vproper bears.

The v.buffer mechanism, as shown, comprises a substantially rectangularcasting 14 v'within which are located twin arranged springs 15, thelatter bearing at their rear end against the integral wall 16 of thecasting 14-and vat their forward ends against a slidable follower'17.Carried by the casting 14 is a series of relatively stationaryfrlctionplates 18, the same being'inserted vertically within the casting 14between a pair of suitable guidingf'langes 19-19. Cooperating with thefriction plates 18 is another series of longer friction plates 20, the

latter being alternated withl the friction plates 18 and extendingbeyond the latter` both forwardly and rearwardly. The friction plates20. at their rear ends engage said follower 17 and are adapted toactuate the latter, as will be understood. At their forward ends, theplates 20 engage a second follower 21 against the forward face ofwhichbears a two-coil spring 22, said spring 22 at its forward end beingseated within a hollow spring follower 23 against which the rear end ofthe buer stem 12 abuts. The

follower 23 is provided on its inner face with a rearward extension 24adapted to engage a corresponding lug 25 on the forward face of thefollower 21 to limit the compression of the spring 22.

Upon inward movement of the buffer plate 11, it is obvious that the stem12 -will be forced inwardly, thus compressing the spring-22 until thefollower 23 engages the follower 21. Thereafter, further inward movementof the buffer plate 1-1 will be resisted 'by the springs 15 acting.through the friction plates 20.

In order to overn the amount of friction between the friction plates 18and 20, I provlde the following electromagnetically controlled means:The casting 14, at its forward under sidexof a slidable block 29, saidblock y 29 engaging the lowermost friction plate 18 Vand being guided bysaid anges 19-19.

Secured to, the under face of the casting 14 near lts rear end, is anelectro-magnet 30 with which cooperates the lever 27, the latter at itsrear end31 actin as an armature for the magnet 30 and helng normallyspaced therefrom. Secured to the follower 23 is a depending blade 32which carries one element 33 of a knife switch, the other element ofsaid knife switch comprising a pair of parallel spring arms 34-34carried by a portion of the car framework and linsulated therefrom, asindicated in Fig. 5. Also car.v ried by the car framework is a. contactbar 35, said-bar 35 having a series of contact points 36 with which thede ending arm 32 is adapted to make sliding eiictrcal contact uponmovement of the follower 23 (see Figs. 1 and 4). The contacts 36 areconnected with a series of resistance coils 37 and so. varranged-that,as the contact arm 32 moves inwardly or to the right, as viewed in Fig.1,

the resistance coils 37 are cut out successively. 11-0 I The electricalcircuit for the electro-magnet and resistance coils is indicateddiagrammatically in the drawing wherein B is a conventionalrepresentation of any suitable source of electrical power, such as abattery, wire a from one side of-said battery running to theelectro-maghet'SO land the return wire b from `the electro-magnetrunning to the binding' post 38. From the latter a connection o is madeto the blades 34e-B4 of the knife switch the circuit being completedthrough' the knife blade 33 when the latter engages the memu bers 34 andthrough the resistance coils 37 back to another binding ost' 39 andiinalllg] through the return wire to the battery As will-be apparent,upon inward movement of the follower 23, the circuit will be'.

f completed when vtheknife'blade engages 'maximum pressure bein lower 23reaches its innermost pos1tion.` a5

the members 34, thus energizing the electromagnet-BO, the amount ofenergization being at a minimum, however, due to the fact that thecurrent is reduced because of all the resistance coils being included inthe circuit. As the follower 23 continues its movement,

its is obvious that the resistance is `gradually cut out thus increasingthe current supplied to the electro-magnet which in turn increases theattraction for the armature 31;l As the armature 31 l(leve'i27) is drawnto the electro-magnet 30, it is obvious that the cam surface 28 willgraduallyincrease the pressure between the friction plates 18 and 20,Vthe 'reached as the fol- Upon release, it is obvious that theelectromagnet 30 will be gradually denergized as the follower 2Sreturnstoward normal po'-, sition.

' I claim: l

1. In a shock absorbin mechanism, the combination with relative y,stationary and movable friction elements, `spring means for resistingmovement of said movable friction elements, "of an electro-magneticallycontrolled pressure member for governing the frictional resistancebetween said elements A during relative movement therebetween, saidmember being pivoted about an axis extending parallel to said platesland actin to apply pressure transversely of said ates.

2. In a device of the character escribed,

i the combination' with a friction shock absorber including stationaryfriction plates, friction plates longitudinally movab e rel'- springmeans alined` with said forresisting relative movement between saidplates, of electromagnetically controlled means for varying the pressurebetween said tro-magnet governing `lever and means 'governed bythe-positionl position atively to said stationary friction plates, andfriction plates incassa plates and dependent upon thev the movableplates relatively to t e ary plates.

3. In a shock absorbin mechanism, the

combination with stationmeans for resisting movement of the mpvablefriction elements, and means, including a follower, for imparting linealmovement to the Vmovable friction elements, of a pressure memberarranged to vary the frictionalresistance between said movable andstation-4 ary friction elements, van electro-magnet. for actuating saidpressure v dependent upon the position of said follower for governingthe current supplied to the electro-magnet.

4. In a shockabsorbin mechanism, the

combination with a fol ower, a casing,- so

springs mounted within the casing, a plurality of stationary frictionplates` carried bysaid casing, and a plurality ofl in'ov'able frictionplates alternated with the stationary friction plates, l ver acting uponsaid friction plate/s, an' electhe position of said of said follower forvarying the current supplied to the electroma et. 5. In .a shockabsorbin mechanism, the

i combination with a movab e ollower, a pluthe circuit for theelectro-magnet, the amount v i of resistance in the circuit beingdependent upon the position of said movable follower.

6. In a shock absorbing mechanism for 105 railroad cars, thecombination-with a longitudinally movable pressure-transmitting elepment, of a spring resistancein alinement with said element, andelectro-magnetically governed frictional resistance in alinement 110with said vspring resistance, said frictional resistance vvarying inaccordance with the of said element.

In witness that I claim -the foregoing I .have hereunto' 'subscribed myname this 24th 11.2.5

day of-May,191 7. vl v JOHN ngocoNNoRyr ition ofA 'tol a plura ity ofstationary` Y friction elements, a plurality .of movable 65 f `frictionelements coperable therewith` and slidable lineally with respectthereto, springv member, and meaii s of a` pressure controlling' le# 85-e stationary frictionplates, l

and. movable

